THE MIDWEST BEAT At the Gates LP

Recorded inside the third oldest Synagogue still standing in America, The Midwest Beat’s At The Gates achieves a near perfect wall of sound due to recording on an old 8 track reel-to-reel in a space with natural reverb resulting in snare drums that sound like shotgun blasts. With sometimes 6 people gathered around just a few microphones as the band brought in a host of backup vocalists, this album is heavy on the harmonies but that doesn’t detract from its cool clear Big Star sound. There’s lots of genre bending on this album, from the countrified “Hard to Please”, to the jangly garage tunes “Molly Molly” and “Bring the Water”, to the darkly moody concluding track “Pretty Lady” but they all work well together. This is a vinyl reissue of their debut album released on CD in 2009. There is also a repressing of their double 7” EP on Dusty Medical in color vinyl edition of 125, which I really recommend you snatch up. You can check our website for Bob’s review of that original release at www.mongrelzine.ca. (Janelle Hollyrock)